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Katharine Graves, the founder of KG Hypnobirthing and author of The Hypnobirthing Book, told MailOnline the rise was largely down to 'word of mouth.'

She has trained dozens of NHS midwives and said more and more women were experiencing the benefits of it.

'When I started to teach hypnobirthing over 12 years ago it was virtually unknown.

'A few brave women did this course with this suspicious name, on the grounds that anything was worth a try, and probably to their surprise found that it made a tremendous difference.

'So they told their friends, and they found it worked too, so they told their friends, and that’s how it started.

Women are being taught deep relaxation techniques to help with the pain of labour

'It really is a grass roots revolution, caused by women. Then midwives saw the difference that it made and the whole ethos of their work is to do their best for the women in their care, so they told other women, and so it grew even quicker.'

Women will be taught deep relaxation techniques which are said to induce an almost trance-like state, making women calmer and more able to block out pain.

WHAT IS HYPNOBIRTHING?

Hypnobirthing is a programme with a focus on natural birth.

It uses the power of positive language to combine methods of deep relaxation, breathing techniques, visualisation and affirmative positive thinking to reduce anxiety, stress, fatigue and fear - and subsequently reduce pain.

Mothers-to-be are informed about what happens to the body during labour and encourages them to have the confidence and control needed to give the best birth possible.

It explores the relationship with pain and labour and helps women to learn to work with sensations.

The technique aims to show how the woman and her birthing companion can create a birthing environment that is calm and serene rather than tense and stressful.

Source: The Hypnobirthing Association

Scientific evidence is inconclusive its impact with some NHS trusts now starting to collect data from mothers who opt for the technique.

Wolverhampton Trust has reported that 80 per cent of hypnobirthing mothers have normal births compared with 60 per cent of the general population.

A normal delivery is one without induction, without the use of instruments, not by Caesarean section and without general, spinal or epidural anaesthetic before or during delivery.

But Gail Johnson, education adviser at the Royal College of Midwives, said it was not ticket to a pain-free delivery.

'It’s not "one, two, three, go into a trance and wake up with a baby"’.

'The hypnobirthing process is not necessarily about hypnosis, it’s often about focusing on something other than the pain of labour and that’s not something that’s particularly new,' she said.